ASEAN Regional Forum as a Reference Point: Progress and Limitations of NAPCI’s Institutional Designs

This article aims to add value to discussions about the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative (NAPCI), one of the South Korean government’s core diplomatic policies. First, it examines the importance of institutional design for its substantial progress, a relatively unaddressed subject among stakeholders. Second, it explores the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) from a comparative perspective and draws lessons for NAPCI in terms of the impact of institutional design on operations. Similarities and differences between ARF and NAPCI in terms of goals, procedural norms, priority areas of cooperation, and member composition are legitimate reasons for the comparison. Though ARF’s past cannot predict NAPCI’s future, this article suggests that studying ARF would enlighten NAPCI stakeholders regarding the interaction of institutional features with diverse regional factors (inspired by a European case) and the outcomes that diverged from the reference point. Understanding how the former’s institutional features actually work is useful for ensuring that NAPCI is designed wisely.